An Unexpected Friend
by alylove
Summary: AU. Claire is sent back before finding out about building 26 and all that nonsense. While in Costa Verde, she finds none other than Elle and helps her despite being wary of her. Later will include: Sylar, Peter, and the rest. Chapter 1!
1. Chapter 1: Rough Beginnings

Claire almost didn't notice her. _Almost. _She practically wishes she hadn't. It had to be some sort of sick twisted impersonator though. Elle was dead. Sylar had said so, he had said it oh so coldly.

Quietly, Claire crept along the small alley in Costa Verde. This was the rather not so nice part of town and Claire, after a few drinks, had decided to wander through the back streets where she was sure there would be no cameras watching her. She thought she could finally be free.

When Claire had saw what looked like Elle flee down this alley, the first logical thought was that it was a ghost. But even in this messed up world, Claire didn't believe in ghosts. She believed in terror, in abilities manifesting people, a bad side to everyone, evil, but not ghosts. Sighing, she had followed and watched Elle knock on a door that seemed to be falling apart. It was certainly Elle, Claire could almost bet her life on it. She inched her way to the door Elle had disappeared in and listened closely.

"I'm sorry-"

"Damn it! Your sorry doesn't mean anything to me. Get the hell out of here and get ready for work!"

Claire's mouth dropped as she heard a vibrant slap followed by a cry that had been haunting her for a while. Elle had been apologizing—since when does she apologize? Knowing something wrong was happening, Claire hurried around to the front of the building. She realized it was a small diner. The only people in there were a few old folks and two rough looking middle aged men. Cautiously Claire wandered in. She saw all the eyes linger on her for a bit before they went back to sipping their coffee.

A gruff looking man stalked up to behind the counter and nodded at her. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, uh, where are your restrooms?" Claire asked looking hopeful.

"Back there," he gestured and Claire thanked him before zipping back there. She saw the door to the alley, now all she needed to find was Elle. It shouldn't be too hard, she thought to herself. Just look for the flash of blue light…

But instead she heard sniffling. Soft, pathetic sniffling. She saw the bathroom in front of her but next to it was a store room and instead she walked through the flap and stood still. A slim blonde was standing in front of a small mirror and with crossed arms protectively across her chest and stood with her back against Claire. Unsure of what to do, Claire shuffled her feet loud enough for her to hear and jump around. Claire's eyes widened. It was definitely Elle, but with a large bruise across her cheek. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face had gotten slightly thinner in an unhealthy way.

"You," Claire whispered not sounding angry like she wanted to.

"What are you doing here?" Elle shot back but there was less malice in her voice than Claire knew she was trying to attempt. "Get out of here-"

"Excuse me miss," the gruff man entered the room startling both the girls. "Is this waitress causing problems?"

Claire raised an eyebrow at Elle who had turned frightened at the sight of him. "She…she was just telling me where the bathroom was."

"That all?"

"Well no," Claire sighed and Elle's eyes grew panicked. "See I went to school with her a long time ago and she disappeared. I thought I'd never see her again. Actually, is it okay if the two of us step outside? I can pay you for taking her time."

"Whatever, hundred and I don't need her anymore," he said carelessly.

"Sure," Claire pulled cash out of her pocket.

"What are you doing," Elle approached her from behind hissing angrily. "I need this. Have you come to ruin-"

"Let's go," Claire faked a smile to the man and yanked Elle out of the room. Touching her was unreal. She was dead. Was there no sort of normalcy in this world?

"I don't know what the hell you think you're doing but-"

"Shut up Elle!" Claire thundered in the back alley and rammed her against the wall so hard the other blonde began to shake and struggle to get away.

"First you cause my father to get shot, then you break into my house and hurt my brother and try to hurt me, I help you out big time, and you abandon me after everything and wind up with the devil only to kill me!" Claire shouted at Elle who's face had turned white. Then Claire got a crazy laugh. "But you're not Elle. Elle's dead. Who are you?"

"Claire, calm down," Elle tried to reason. "I'm alive. It's a long story-"

"Save it," Claire cut her off again. "I don't care."

She let go of the other blonde but a wave of emotion swept over her. "Take this," she mumbled throwing it at Elle.

"Claire-"

"It's three hundred dollars, I don't know why I was carrying it around," Claire said dryly.

"I didn't mean for everything to happen like that," Elle called after her.

"You know what," Claire turned to face her slowly. "I wanted to believe in you. Actually I _did _believe you when you said you were glad to know I was as messed up as you. But you are _just _like everyone else."

With that, Claire staggered away trying to collect herself. She was all alone, her family was "keeping her safe" 3000 miles away from them. But did they really want to protect her or did they just want her out of the way? Sandra kept reassuring her they loved her but sometimes Claire wasn't sure. After all, when she was honest with herself, she barely knew them. She couldn't have normal friends because no one understood her. No one but Elle-and Elle had killed her a long time ago.

---

"Claire? What's the matter?" Sandra asked worried as Claire stumbled in the door.

"Nothing," she mumbled.

"You've been out for hours! You had me worried sick," she scolded lightly.

"Don't worry about me mom," Claire responded dejectedly. "I can't get hurt."

"Okay," Sandra said uneasily as she watched Claire climb the stairs slowly. "Next time call."

Claire did a faint nod before washing up in the bathroom and readying herself for bed.

She didn't sleep so soundly that night as she thrashed in bed to the unrelenting strange dreams of Elle crying loudly for help and Claire guiltily ignoring.

"Go away!" Claire hissed as she shot up in bed and realized she was awake.

She sighed and fell back against the bed. But another noise caught her attention. It was a scratching noise. Suspiciously she made her way over to her window. When she peered out, she gasped and hurriedly shoved open the window.

"What are you doing here?" she shouted in a whisper as she saw a figure lying on her roof. It was slippery and raining outside. "Elle!"

"I messed up," her voice was soft and barely audible over the pouring rain. A flash of lightning and roar of thunder scared her as her head shot up to look at Claire and she slipped losing her grip and shrieked as she fell to the rain gutter and almost fell off.

"Claire!" she pleaded holding on to shingles of the house for life.

Claire sighed knowing she had to help. There was still compassion inside her she knew that at least.

"What's the matter with you?!" Claire yelled sticking herself out of the window and latched her feet onto the inside of the window and lowered herself so she could hold her hand out to Elle. Quickly she pulled her up and in.

"Get up," Claire said in a low voice and shut the window. "You're getting my carpet wet."

Elle stared at her with eyes that seemed to look right through.

"Who are you?"

"It's me," Elle said hoarsely. "You have to believe me. On the plane, when you held my hand, you took all the shock out of me and when we let go we had an awkward moment."

Claire stared at her for a moment before sighing. "Get changed."

She threw some clothes at her and showed her to her bathroom in her room.

---

"Then he pointed," Elle said emptily. "I could barely feel the pain. I blacked out and next thing I know I'm lying in some dirty alley."

Her face was ghost like and Claire didn't like the feeling of compassion that she wanted to show.

"The worse part…" Elle's voice trailed off and Claire hardened her gaze. "The worse part is I don't even know who I am anymore."

She looked down at her hands. Claire had been sitting on the bed waiting for an explanation and she watched Elle sink farther into the corner on the floor.

"What do you mean?"

"He took everything," Elle said as her voice quivered and she bit her lower lip.

"I'm sorry," Claire said rather coldly.

"No," Elle shook her head. "He took my ability too."

Elle lifted up her hands as if to show Claire she was powerless and couldn't harm her.

"I don't know what to do Claire," Elle looked up with begging eyes.

"You're coming to the wrong person," Claire mumbled. "You haven't heard the rumors? Claire Bennet decided to break her own heart."

Elle stared and opened her mouth but nothing came out.

"They said I was mentally stressed out, that when I broke down every night I was only stressed. They didn't know how to deal with it so they sent me back here. I figured it out Elle-I had to be like you."

"Me?" Elle's voice was small.

"I've been thinking about you," Claire sighed. "You were strong, independent. Nothing got in your way, except someone you loved. So from you I learned that if I don't have a heart, no one can hurt me."

"Listen to yourself," Elle protested. "No one can hurt you because physically you can't be hurt. It makes it easy on your emotions."

"Jealous now of my inability to feel?"

"You have no idea," Elle trembled. "My body is still in agony—nothing has changed since last time. The past few months or so I've lived in hell."

Claire's mind wandered back to the gruff man. She hesitated. "He didn't…you know…"

"No," Elle cut her off looking away.  
There was silence.

"What would've happened if I hadn't left you at Pinehearst?" Elle's voice broke the silence.

"How should I know?" Claire snapped testily as she glared at Elle who shrunk back some more.

"I've been dreaming about that," Elle told her in a soft voice. "If I didn't leave you maybe none of this would've happened."

"Yeah," Claire nodded faintly acknowledging her.

"I don't know anything anymore," Elle said looking down. "Can I…can I stay here?"

"Why should I let you stay in my house after everything you've done?" Claire asked sharply.

"I guess you shouldn't, but I've got no where else to go," Elle said hoping Claire would let her.

"I…Fine. You have one more chance," Claire said and heard a sigh of relief escape Elle's tiny fragile body.

"Thanks, because I hate storms," she shuddered looking out the window. She promptly slid down against the wall and curled up into a tiny ball so she could keep herself warm and sleep.

"Uh Elle," Claire said after a moment. The blonde's eyes flew open and stared confused at Claire. "I didn't say you had to sleep on the floor. You can share the bed."

Elle's face twisted as if she was about to comment on how that would be awkward but she can't remember the last time she slept in a bed. Sex with Gabriel…or was it just Sylar now…had even been on the floor.

"Okay," she sighed getting up and flashing a grateful smile at Claire who moved to the other side on the bed to make room for Elle.

"Goodnight Elle," Claire said facing away from her. Her voice was void of malice, or sadness. It was indifferent.

"Thank you Claire," Elle whispered not wanting to sleep yet. But it turned out to be Claire who stayed up late tossing and turning, tortured by the girl next to her. She didn't want to forgive her-Elle didn't deserve it, she reasoned. But she knew the right thing to do would be to forgive her and show kindness and admittedly, Elle was the only person she was willing to do that for at the moment.

Meanwhile, Elle slept peacefully, feeling safer than she had in a long time. There was no awkwardness, no tension, or resentment. Just exhaustion and eventually sleep.


	2. Uh Oh, Hello Mother

**A/N: Chapter 2 ******** Oh, if you like Claire and Elle, check out my other stories (I will update once I find the files...) This story isn't going to be heavy EClaire but you can interpret things how you want, sorry. However, I did make Elle a little over sexual like she is in the show. Hope you still enjoy!**

**---**

Peace and comfort can be found in the strangest of places. For Elle, it was in the Bennet's house.

"Elle!"

"Hmm?" Elle opened her eyes to see Claire shaking her while leaning over.

"You must've been dreaming. You kept shaking and saying something I couldn't understand."

"I don't remember," Elle said rubbing her eyes and tried to clear her head of the cloudiness. She stretched out and sighed with an angelic smile on her face, the circles under eyes were already fading. "This is how it should have been."

"What?" Claire's eyes narrowed as she looked confused at her.

"You know, what if there were no such things as powers. What if both our dads actually were top employees in a paper company? There would've been company dinners, we would've grown up together. Wouldn't we?"

"I don't know Elle, that's just a fantasy," Claire said dismissing it.

"Nothing is just a fantasy," Elle sighed. "Think about it. I don't know who saved me or brought me back to life and left me in an alley. But these things just don't happen in a normal world."

"I guess," Claire grunted falling back to the bed.

"So, I've been living in a bubble for the past few months," Elle rolled over to face Claire and draped an arm over Claire as she invaded her personal space and leaned her face near Claire's. "What's been going on?"

"I killed your boyfriend," Claire sneered. "He trapped us all in Primatech. He killed my mom-"

"Sandra?"

"No, Meredith," Claire continued pushing Elle off her. "Tried to make me choose between my father and grandma. But I got him, in the back of the head, and then we burned the place to the ground."  
"Oh," Elle managed to squeak as she let out a sigh of either relief or discomfort, she wasn't sure which.

"Now they're planning something and I don't know what."

"What do you mean?"

"I caught Angela whispering something on the phone with Nathan about keeping me out of it while they round the others up but she caught me before I could hear the rest and sent me back here two weeks ago."

"The others…like a team of heroes?"

"I guess so."

"And you want to be part of that?"  
"I'm tired of feeling so useless, so yes I do!"

"You always had it easy cheerleader, why do you always want to make things complicated?"

"Shut up," Claire growled.

Elle was silent as she lay calmly.

"What have you been doing the past few months?" Claire asked blankly.

"I woke up and I didn't know where I was," Elle grimaced as she remembered.

_Elle sat up rubbing her head and gasped as she realized it was raining. Hesitantly she stood up and walked to the end of the alley. There were a couple people standing by a back door and Elle tried to approach them when she felt a sticky substance on the back of her head---blood. She realized then that she was only wearing Gabriel's clothes and she was still limping with her leg burning like hell._

_"Hello?" she called out weakly but then she realized too late it was a bunch of wild drunk guys in their late 20's. _

_"Hey baby," one of them called out. _

_She stopped like a deer caught in headlight, her expression terrified. Her instincts told her to run, electricity couldn't be used in the rain. But her feet kept her glued to the ground. _

_"Don't come near me," she tried to say boldly as they walked over and when they laughed she turned and began to run. She ran out of the alley and into another one as she searched for signs of people who could help._

_"Hello?!" she screamed but no one heard her. Things began to spin and before she knew it her legs gave way and she collapsed on steps outside the door of a shop._

"The owner, that guy you saw, he took me in but he didn't take me to the hospital or anything, he just kept me in the store room," Elle mumbled. "If I worked for him he said I could live in there. But I would never have stayed if I knew he would start hitting me."

Claire felt a spark of anger rise in her. She knew inside that Elle was vulnerable, and no one had the right to hit her like that. Well, she wanted to give Elle a good slap but when she thought everything over, she knew it wasn't Elle's fault. Whoever showed Elle affection was who she was loyal too. She had yet to figure out though, why Sylar and not her?

"I don't understand Elle," Claire said breaking from her own thoughts.

"What?" Elle said looking at her.

"I know how you work, you're like me," Claire said slowly. "So why did you choose Sylar over me? He killed your dad, Elle."

Elle looked ashamed for a moment. Then she answered, "I'm sorry I left you at Pinehearst. But I was scared and there was so much pain running through my body that I wanted to kill myself. When I got there, they locked me up. But Gabriel came and he took my all my pain away, Claire it was unbelievable."

She finally had this twinkle to her eyes that Claire recognized from a long time ago.

"He let me take my anger out on him, and then he took away my pain without taking my ability. He got my ability without killing me. Claire, he changed. I know he did. But after your father planted some shit in his head he went back."

"You're blaming my dad?" Claire's eyes darkened.

"No I'm not, and if it makes you feel better, I chose Gabriel not Sylar over you," Elle said. "I knew him before he became Sylar. I was…I kinda helped him become Sylar."

"You?" Claire's eyes widened.

"Hey don't look at me like that, I tried to back out of it. Your dad made me do it."

"My dad…" Claire finally realized.

"He let me go, Gabriel I mean, he didn't kill me. But the other guy there wasn't so lucky," Elle sighed.

"I-"

"Claire!"

Both girls shot up to see Sandra standing angrily in the doorway.

"Mom," Claire scrambled out of bed in a defensive position as she saw the hate in her mother's eyes.

"What is this low life bitch doing in our house much less in your room, in your bed?!" Sandra asked coldly She didn't shout, she didn't scream, but the ice in her voice terrified Elle who was now powerless.

"Mom, she needs help," Claire said cautiously eyeing her mom.

"You helped her last time and see where it got you!"

"It's not like that right now-"

"She came in here and held me hostage, Claire, I don't know how you can help some woman who was willing to kill your mother!"

"It's different, calm down mom," Claire tried coaxing as she took one step closer.

"Listen to me Claire," Sandra hissed. She marched right up to Elle who was petrified. Within seconds her hand connected with Elle's cheek resulting in a loud stinging sound causing Elle to hold her face while tenderly trying to fight her tears. "People like her are one giant mess that can't be fixed!"

"Mom!" Claire finally shouted as she rushed onto the bed and wrapped her arms around Elle while cradling her head and trying to console her.

"I want her gone Claire, and I want her gone by the time I get back from Mr. Muggle's dog show on Friday," Sandra finished and left the room without another word.

Claire stared aghast after her mom. She admired her for her courage but that was not the right moment to have used it.

"Are you okay?" Claire asked with a strange sort of apprehensive tone to her voice after a moment of silence as she gently took care of Elle. Elle's face was throbbing. It was like she was afraid to show sympathy.

"I'm okay," Elle sniffled.

"She has a right to be mad you know," Claire said slowly.

"I know," Elle said recomposing herself. "And I know you do too. I never meant to kill you Claire."

"You were aiming for my dad, that's not much better."

"He would've taken me down one way or another, he doesn't trust me," Elle told her. "But I wanted to take you back with us. That way, we could escape together. I didn't know you could die."

"What?" Claire asked pulling away from Elle.

"I wanted to bring you back so we could escape together, with Gabriel," Elle added sighing. "I went with him to make sure I could protect you."

"Elle I would never have gone with him, or you, this is my life," Claire tried to tell her but Elle started to laugh. "What?"

"You complain you want to do something, and when I give you the chance to run away you don't want to?"

"I will not run away with the man who terrorized me in my own house and then sliced my head open," Claire said glaring at Elle.

"It doesn't matter, he's dead now, right?" Elle asked holding her cheek while staring at Claire for a reassuring answer.

"Yeah."

"What's the matter?"

"Hm?"

"You don't sound so sure of yourself Pom Pom," Elle smirked finally taking her hand off her face.

"I have this feeling…like somehow he's still alive," Claire sighed.

"You're just scared," Elle shrugged and Claire gave her a look. "Really, you're just scared. I mean I've had nightmares that he's going to come back and kill me again. But he's dead. You said you watched the building go up in flames right?"

"Yeah, and he was dead inside," Claire reassured herself.

"Then no fears," Elle smiled leaning closer into Claire in a flirtatious sort of way. "Come on. We can do anything we want. It's a free world now. No company, no parents-"

"I've still got parents," Claire verified and tried to push Elle away.

"You're eighteen Claire, you could use a little happiness in your life," Elle said.

"Elle I've got a lot of time to be happy," Claire mumbled. "In fact I've got forever to be happy."

"Why wait? You're not going to have me around forever," Elle smiled in a way a little kid did as she looked for reassurance in Claire's response.

"I'm not going to have anyone around forever," Claire's mood darkened and Elle's expression fell. Claire sighed. This wasn't Elle's problem. "But if you want, we can go out after my mom leaves."

"Really?" Elle's face lit up and she grasped Claire's hands in between hers. Claire nodded slowly.

"Thank you! Thank you thank you thank you Claire!" she squealed. "I've never been out for fun!"

"Never?"

"Well not just to hang out with a friend," Elle said slightly embarrassed.

"Did you have any friends?" Claire asked and Elle didn't respond.

Claire forced a smile. "All right, let's get you changed."


End file.
